


A Better Way

by JohnAmendAll



Category: Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-18
Updated: 2012-08-18
Packaged: 2017-11-12 10:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/489638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnAmendAll/pseuds/JohnAmendAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clyde's left to clean up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Better Way

**Author's Note:**

> An episode tag to _The Gift_.

"You have missed a bit," Mr Smith said calmly. "Bottom row, right hand end."

Clyde wrung out his cloth, dipped it in the bucket again, and wiped at the indicated area.

"Thank you," the computer said. "I now appear to be completely free of Raxacoricofallapatorian innards."

"Wish I could say the same about me. And the rest of the attic." Clyde surveyed the scene, as Hercules might have looked at the Augean stables.

"You have succeeded in cleaning the dog, at least." Mr Smith's voice didn't convey much emotion as a rule, but Clyde could tell he was irked. "Was there a reason that it was given the priority in this respect?"

"Sarah Jane didn't want him tracking muck through the house." Clyde grabbed the mop, and began scrubbing at the congealing alien remains on the floor. "'There should have been a better way'. Ha. Too right there should. Or at least a less disgusting one."

"There was, of course," Mr Smith said softly.

Clyde turned so suddenly that he nearly skidded on what, he feared, might have been intestines.

"What do you mean, there was?"

"A less untidy way to deal with the aliens. You may recall that I am equipped with an energy weapon." A panel slid back, revealing a blaster. "So is the dog. Had I been asked, I could simply have shot the intruders."

"And then they wouldn't have exploded?"

"Not immediately. The bodies could have been returned to their ship before the internal organs ruptured."

"So why didn't she..." Clyde turned back, and gave the floor a few desultory strokes with the mop. "If you'd shot them, they'd have died instantly, wouldn't they?"

"That is correct."

"And the same if it was K9?"

"Assuming that the dog was fully functional and had a high enough charge."

"So if she'd wanted, she could have had them killed just like that."

"It is possible that she forgot my capabilities in that respect."

"Oh no. K9 uses his blaster all the time. She couldn't forget something like that. She must have done it on purpose."

"That would be a logical conclusion."

Clyde started mopping the floor again, with renewed vigour. "Luke. They nearly killed Luke. That's what it was. She wanted to make them suffer for what they did to him."

"Then she was successful. My assessment is that fissures opened in their digestive tracts..."

"Too much information! Look, I've got their digestive tracts all over me as it is." He dunked the mop in the bucket. "Mr Smith, what would Sarah Jane do if something really did happen to Luke?"

"Unknown."

"Yeah." Clyde looked around the attic, and shuddered. "That's what I was afraid of."


End file.
